M'Ress Onboard
by GlitteringSnow
Summary: M'Ress is a Caitian onboard the USS Enterprise, join her on her journey through the stars and on Earth. See her struggles with her new career, her family and strange new enemies that bring a whole new meaning to Into The Darkness. OC the pairing is a surprise, see if you can guess :) The rating may change over time.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Okay, so I watched Star Trek Into Darkness and I LOVED IT! I can't wait to see it again but because I can't I have to delude myself with the stories I write. So here we go, my newest story. I took M'Ress from the show and put her in she will be completely OC in her personality but her species and name have been borrowed. Be warned there are going to be MAJOR SPOILERS in this story, so if you don't want the movie ruined I recommend TURNING BACK but if you don't, don't blame me :) Anyway on with it! **

**Chapter One**

No one aboard the Starfleet Enterprise ever seemed to sleep, that is apart from M'Ress, she had just finished a twelve hour shift in the engineering room. She wasn't the best with anything technological but for some reason Scotty had chosen her out of his class to be his apprentice. Something she wasn't sure that she was happy about.

It had gotten her out of her mother's house though, so there was some benefits that came with being an engineering tech. M'Ress was currently lying on her bed trying her best to fall into the realms of unconsciousness, but it just wasn't happening for her. She sighed before she sat up, pushing her hair out of her face before she got out of bed, stripped off her pyjamas and went for a shower. Luckily the male and female bathrooms were separate or it would have been very uncomfortable if anyone had been in there.

She washed quickly, everything done aboard the Starfleet Enterprise had to be done quickly and efficiently and this had been worked into everyone aboard during the academy. Everything they did was slightly robotic in nature but no one questioned the rules. What if something had happened? The person who was taking too long would suffer for it because they were not in their designated spot and god forbid they weren't.

Things weren't so bad with Captain Kirk who was now in charge, he wasn't one who was overly fond of the rules, usually disregarding the rule book all together and she knew that one day he would be in serious trouble for trying to make his own way in the world. Starfleet command would never let someone like Kirk be Captain for long, he was just too unpredictable and he had too many human emotions that clouded his judgement sometime.

Like with his saving Spock and letting the indigenous species see the spaceship, that was a bad move on his part. Not the saving of his friend and first in command but those people had hardly invented the wheel, who knew what letting them see something so technologically advanced would do for their species.

She hoped nothing bad would happen because of it. Getting out of the shower she quickly dressed in her red uniform dress, standard regulation of course. Her tail flew out from behind her, she shoved it through the hole that was specially made for any of her species that came aboard and the dress actually covered her bum this time. She wandered out of her quarters and made her way to the deck, her species didn't really need to sleep as often as the humans on board. She wasn't the only non-human either, Spock was half Vulcan, made apparent by his rather large ears and ability to never lie which resulted in his and Captain Kirk's constant arguments.

M'Ress usually laughed at the two of them; she wasn't as close to the them as others were but she was afforded certain leeway due to her nature as a Caitian. She found it hard to disguise her emotions, he tail, ears and eyes usually gave her away. She looked remarkably human for a Caitian, she didn't have fur covering her entire body, only her tail and ears had pale fine hair on and the rest was just skin. She was thankful for it at this point, sometimes when she was around people would stare, she was one of the few that had ever left their home planet, her mother had re-married after her father died, to a human. It was strange but she had gotten used to it and now recalled her step-father with fondness.

Once she had made her way to the deck she observed the rest of the crew. Everyone seemed unusually happy and she remembered that they were making their way back to Earth. Their home planet.

"Shouldn't you be resting?" She jumped, being pulled out of her musings by the Captain.

She turned to look at him, smiling slightly when she saw the glint of amusement in his eyes which overshadowed the feeling of awe he felt when he looked at her. No matter how many times he saw her, he would never stop wondering what it felt like to have a tail.

"I was Captain. I woke up for some reason and you know how hard it is to get back to sleep once you're awake." Kirk nodded and gently placed his hand on the small of her back and led her to the captain's chair. He removed his hand and sat down.

She remained standing where he had placed her wondering what he wanted.

"Activate all radio." Kirk commanded.

"Yes Captain." Came the immediate reply as the crew set about making sure their captain was heard by everyone on the ship. "You're ready to go Captain."

Kirk nodded before typing in a code on the arm of his chair. "Good morning crew. This is your captain speaking; we will be landing on Earth in approximately eight hours. You will be contacted once the Enterprise is given another mission but until that time you are all grounded no other flights or journey's please, just in case of immediate re-launch. Kirk out." He nodded to Sulu who cut the connection and stood back up again. He motioned for M'Ress to follow him as he walked out of the deck.

She walked by his side as he started chatting casually. "So Scotty tells me you're his favourite apprentice." Her eyebrows raised in surprise, she had thought that she was annoying with her constant questions. Kirk must have seen her surprise as he smiled. "He said it's nice to find someone who's genuinely interested in what he says."

She hoped they'd never find out it was because she was so afraid of screwing something up that she paid as much attention as she did. "Is that why he chose me to come aboard?" She asked, her tail swishing behind her in the air rising and falling with the sway of her hips. Kirk's eyes were immediately drawn to it.

He snapped out of it and he smiled at her. "Yup. He likes having people around who actually like what they are doing, makes them not screw up as many times as other people."

"That's good to know." It was then that M'Ress noticed that he had walked her back to her quarters. He leaned against the wall in front of her door and smiled at her again.

"You should really get some more sleep. I don't think you've had more than two hours since we took off." She hadn't known he was paying that much attention to her but he was right. She just didn't feel comfortable enough in the bed that had been provided for her.

She sighed. "Okay, I'll try."

She watched the Captain walk away and opened the door to her quarters. She didn't feel tired at all but she knew that she should get some sleep. He was right after all she hadn't slept well at all since boarding, she wasn't used to being in space and it felt weird for her. However she stripped of her dress, climbed into some fresh pyjamas and lay there, counting sheep until finally, she fell asleep.

She woke up lying diagonally on her bed, she blinked to remove the sleep from her eyes and sat up stretching happily. That was the first sleep that had lasted more than an hour that she'd managed to have on this spaceship. She felt better than she had in a long time. She crawled out and landed on the floor, she rolled her ankles and sighed happily.

This was going to be a good day, she could tell.

She opened the door to the hallway and slipped out, dodging various people who were going about their day. She made her way down to the engineering room and was immediately spoken to by Scotty.

"There you are lass!" He gently grabbed her arm and walked her closer to the warp engine that was humming happily. "I need you to keep an eye on these settings and call me if anything starts to rise." She nodded and turned her attention closer to the control panel. There were various levels that had to be focused on like temperature or pressure. If any of them started to rise it would be essential to make sure that they were lowered to safe levels once more.

Thankfully nothing went wrong and Scotty was soon back. "Everything alright lass?"

"Yes sir, levels are at normal range." He nodded and smiled, he loved it went everything was running smoothly on his ship.

He was about to say something else but was interrupted when the Captains voice flowed through the ship. "Good evening crew. Be prepared to land in thirty minutes. Kirk out."

"Wow, I didn't think I was asleep for that long." M'Ress turned to look at Scotty. "Sorry for not being down here." She said shamefully, lowering her head.

Scotty smiled at the poor cat. "Don't worry lass, it was me that sent you to get sleep in the first place." He ruffled her hair teasingly. "Anyway prepare for landing!" He shouted at the rest of the crew. Everyone immediately started pressing various dials including M'Ress who's job it was to ensure engine stability as they landed.

She was glad that everything went right because she wasn't sure she was able to handle a malfunction as this early stage of her career. She sincerely hoped she would never have to deal with one but she knew that was just wishful thinking. She moved to the next station to check everything was okay and smiled when everything was going fine.

And sure enough the Starfleet Enterprise landed perfectly. M'Ress waited to be dismissed along with the rest of the crew and hurried to her quarters to pack before getting off the ship. She breathed in the fresh oxygen and smiled, Earth was always nice to come back to. She decided the best thing for her to do while she waited for the new mission was to go and see her mother. So that's where she went.

She walked out of Starfleet's headquarters, saying her goodbyes to the crew, not noticing Captains Kirk's eyes on her as she went. She hurried down the streets of London and chuckled silently to herself at the familiar sights and sounds. She had to hail a cab because although she did want to walk it was too far and she hadn't quite gotten her Earth legs back yet. She paid the cabbie and hopped down from the floating vehicle. She grabbed her suitcase and walked up the path to her mother's house and knocked on the door. She gave it a second before opening the door, and smiled at the smell and feel of home. "Mom? You here? I'm home!" She shouted, frowning at the silence.

Usually when she came home her mother was immediately all over her, checking for various injuries and tutting at her career. The silence was strange. "Mom?" She shrugged and walked in further.

It was odd but her mom was probably just out. But something didn't feel right.

She walked further in. Peering around every corner for a sign of her mother, or even her step-father. Where were they? M'Ress turned into the kitchen and grabbed the calendar, sliding her finger across the touchscreen to find out if they had any appointments for today. She furrowed her eyebrows as she saw there was nothing.

Humming to herself she shrugged it off, opening the fridge door and taking out a carton of milk. She poured herself a glass before putting the milk back. Sipping at it she wandered up the stairs to her bedroom, taking her suitcase with her and wanting to unpack. She threw the suitcase on her bed before checking her mothers bedroom.

She knocked on the door before gently opening it. "Hey Mom, are you in here?" Once the door was fully opening M'Ress gasped, dropped her glass of milk which smashed on the floor, the white liquid spilling onto the wooden floor and spreading quickly. It soon merged with the red liquid that was already on the floor. The blood.

"Mom?" Her voice cracked as she whimpered.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Sorry if my description of M'Ress isn't consistent with the tv show or whatever, but I'm going off what I saw in the movie. :) And my own imagination. I see her as a humanoid with a tail, ears and eyes of a cat. If you would like to imagine her in a different way that is completely fine, I won't describe her any more to make that easier for you. Let your imagination take her wherever you want. I'd also like to point out that Shiboline is M'Ress' first name, but it's rude to call a Caitian by their first name unless you're family. (This is only in my story I don't know if this is actually true or not so don't crucify me).  
**

**Warning: There is graphic description in this chapter, proceed with caution if you're a bit squeamish.**

**And on with the chapter.**

**Chapter Two**

M'Ress stood there with her hand over her mouth. The room was completely covered in blood, she walked in a little more trying to spot where it was coming from. She sniffled and gagged as the metallic smell of blood flooded her nose. She cursed her sensitivity to smells at that moment, but pushed forwards, moving towards the en suite bathroom where the blood seemed to originate from.

She pushed open the door slowly, closing her eyes. It occurred to her that she should call the police, but she had to know, she had to know if her mom was alright. The odds weren't in her favour at the moment. When she pushed the door fully open, she opened my eyes again. The curtain had been activated over the bathtub, she pushed the button on the wall to slide it back and inched her way closer. The blood was dripping down the side of the tub and she could feel tears spring into her eyes as she got closer.

She couldn't see anything over the sides so she had to go closer and closer until she saw the top of a head. She gulped down the feeling of nausea that overcame her as who was in the tub became known to her.

It was her mother. She was lying there naked, her throat was slit but that wasn't what had resulted in so much blood loss. Her entire lower body looked like it had exploded, various part of her intestines and stomach were draped over her. The blood looked like it had been harvested and then spread over the bedroom.

M'Ress lunged for the toilet as she vomited.

She lent against the toilet as she cried, fumbling to find her phone, quickly dialing in the number for the police and waited as the phone rang.

"Hello you have reached the emergency services, how can we help you today?"

She took a deep breath to steady her tears and gasped into the phone. "There's been a murder, my mother..." She sobbed again before she could continue. "My mother's been murdered."

There was a brief paused on the other side of the phone. "Could you tell me your whereabouts?"

"24 Pentonville Drive." Her lips were trembling as she tried to stop crying, she could smell the blood again and she retched into the toilet.

"A unit has been dispatched and should arrive in approximately 2.4 seconds."

She heard the door knock downstairs and stumbled to her feet. Accidentally catching a glimpse of her mother in the tub, she lunged for the toilet again, dry heaving.

"Ma'am!" Came a shout down the stairs. "Ma'am are you alright? It's the Police. We've been called to this address." M'Ress heard footsteps coming up the stairs and tried to make herself stop heaving but it was too difficult.

"Oh Christ." She heard a voice from the bedroom door, the footsteps came closer to the bathroom and she finally managed to get a hold of her stomach.

"In here." She managed to stand up. Gripping her stomach she made sure not to look in the direction of her mother and turned her attention to the police officer who had appeared at the door. He had his hand covering his mouth, likely in an attempt to stop the smell. The smell that would probably never disappear from her nose. He noticed her and the tears that were streaming down her face and motioned her over to him.

She stepped carefully over the blood, lips trembling again.

He reached out a hand for her to grab hold of. "Are you okay? Are you Lieutenant M'Ress?" He asked, looking into her eyes. She found it difficult to answer with anything but a nod. She held his hand tightly, afraid that if she let him go she would start vomiting and crying again. She needed something to anchor her to this moment.

"I'm going to take you out of the house now, there are paramedics downstairs that can treat you for shock, do you understand what I'm saying to you?" She nodded up at him, unleashing another valley of tears. Once she was out of the house, he went back inside with a crew of other people.

"It's terrible." She heard him say. "Her mother's up there in the bathroom off the bedroom." She couldn't hear the rest of the conversation as he got out of range, and one of the paramedics came over to her.

"Lieutenant M'Ress?" He asked, gently taking her hand after she nodded and helping her up onto the ambulance that was floating steadily off the ground. "I'm going to treat you now." She nodded again and tuned him out, even though he was hovering over her waving whatever tool he had in his hand over her, listening to the beeps it gave off.

He injected her neck with something that immediately calmed her down. The shaking soon stopped and the tears gradually slowed to a stop. She wiped her face clear of them and sat up properly.

"Thank you." She said as she took the blanket that he had offered her.

The police soon came out of the house and the one who helped her out of there came over to talk to her. "Lieutenant M'Ress, I'm going to have to ask you some questions, if you're feeling up to it?"

"Yes of course." She said, sitting up even more.

"When did you first discover the body?" He asked, M'Ress winced when he referred to her mother as a corpse, he noticed this and backtracked. "I'm sorry that was insensitive."

She sniffed. "No it's fine. The Enterprise had landed at fifteen hundred hours, I wanted to see my mother and step-father so I came here immediately."

"And was your step-father not here?" He asked.

She shook my head. "No, I went upstairs and found her in the tub, Brain wasn't in the house, well at least not that I know of."

"Okay last question, do you know of anyone that has a grudge against your mother or step-father?"

She furrowed my eyebrows. "No, they were lovely people. I don't know of anyone who didn't like them. But I have been on the Enterprise for six months."

"Thank you for your co-operation." M'Ress nodded and watched as he stepped off the ambulance, going over to a few of his colleagues and motioning to the house. She didn't want to stay here any more so she jumped off the ambulance and headed back over to Starfleet headquarters, knowing that she would be given accommodation and her friends to help her through this horrible time.

She told the police officer where she was going and a contact number if they needed her. She hailed a cab and held in her tears as whatever the paramedic had given her wasn't strong enough to control her distress. She started crying again, the cabbie looked really uncomfortable and she could feel him speeding up to get rid of her quicker. Way to show some sensitivity.

M'Ress got out and was about to pay the cabbie but he was already speeding away. She guessed males of all species couldn't handle a crying female. She was lucky that she'd remembered her bags and managed to get them out of the cab before it fled. She wiped the tears away again and headed for the doors, going to reception to find her room.

"Hello. May I help you?" She asked, typing away at her datapadd.

"Lieutenant M'Ress, requesting accommodation."

She nodded, checked her datapadd and told her where to go. "Thank you." M'Ress said, before heading for the elevators. Once she was safely in my room she collapsed to the floor and sobbed.

Her poor mother was dead and she could do nothing about it. The only thing she could do is wait, and waiting is what she was going to do. A thought occurred to her, she grabbed her phone and punched in her step-father's number.

She waited for him to pick up and he did so quickly. "M'Ress is that you?" He whispered.

"Yeah it's me, where are you?" She whimpered. "Did you see what happened to my mom? Where were you when it happened?"

"Listen I can't talk now, I wasn't there when it happened but I know that I told your mother to get out of there, but she didn't listen. Where are you are you safe?"

She nodded even though he couldn't see her. "Yeah, I'm in starfleet's headquarters. Why was she killed? Do you know that?"

He sighed. "Yes, I know why. I made a deal with a man named John Harrison."

"Who?" She shook her head. "That's not important. Are you saying he killed her?"

"I'm sure it was him. I made a deal with him to do something, but I couldn't. I just couldn't do it and this is my punishment."

"What was the deal?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"He wanted me to deliver a code to the archives, it would detonate a bomb. I couldn't do it, I didn't know he would go after your mother, if I knew what he was going to do I would have done it." She could hear him start to cry. "I'm so sorry Shiboline. I'm so, so sorry."

She started crying as well. "Well she's dead, and the police are all over the house. You have to tell them what happened. Otherwise they're going to think you killed her. I can't lose another parent."

"You're not going to." He promised. "But if you ever meet a man named John Harrison promise me you'll run. I don't know if he knows about you but I don't want to take that chance. The best option is for you to go back on the Enterprise as soon as they take off, will you promise me this?"

She shakily nodded. "I promise."

"Okay, I'm going to go now, I can hear someone coming. I'm going to the police as soon as possible but for right now I need to stay out of contact."

"Okay, bye. I love you." She sobbed.

"I love you too, and I'm sorry. Goodbye." The dial tone sounded and M'Ress couldn't take it anymore. She slid down on her bed and cried, letting out all the pain and anger she was feeling. This was going to be the last time she was going to cry, she'd had enough of being useless. She knew she'd made a promise but if she ever found this John Harrison, she was going to make him pay.

It was with this final thought that she fell into an uneasy sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Okay, so this chapter contains major spoilers for the movie and we're really getting into it now. So if you don't want spoilers TURN BACK!**

**Chapter Three**

M'Ress was resting when she heard the first shots, blinking in confusion she hurried over to the window and gaped as she looked up and saw a ship firing on the building. The room began to shake as the shots were fired more frequently as the ship dodged any attempt to shoot it. M'Ress hurried out of her room, grabbing her pistol before running up the stairs.

She rounded corner along with several other Starfleet members she raised her weapon and looked in horror at all of the bodies that were being blasted by the unknown ship. She gritted her teeth and aimed at the ship through the window, trying not to be jostled by the other members of Starfleet who were running towards the conference room and out of it.

M'Ress was soon joined by her Captain, she briefly wondered what he was doing in the conference room before pushing that thought out of her mind as Kirk shot through the window causing the glass to break and cascade to the ground, the majority fell onto the ground outside but a few large pieces had managed to land on the floor in front of them. The two looked at each other before realising that just shooting at the ship wasn't working.

Kirk pushed on the wall behind them as M'Ress remained shooting, this time higher, aiming at the glass window at the front of the ship instead of the underbelly as she had been doing. Kirk came back, wrapping a fire hose around his own gun before launching it out of the window just as M'Ress' shots managed to crack the windows glass.

As the ship's propeller practically inhaled the weapon that had been caught in it, Kirk pulled her down to the floor and covered her with his body just in time as the wall where the hose was connected came flying off. Joining the rest of the hose inside the engine, and sure enough the ship started malfunctioning and exploding.

M'Ress peeked from under her Captains arm, just managing to see the ship start to fly out of control and lose height. Kirk helped her up and together they saw the man who was flying the ship. M'Ress didn't know who he was but Kirk visibly reacted.

The man smirked at the two of them, tilting his head in M'Ress' direction who narrowed her eyes at the man. He was enveloped in yellow lights that brightened as they whisked him away to an unknown location. What was left as the ship finally went down was an empty seat. M'Ress stayed there for a minute and turned to help the wounded Captains and First Officers make their way to med bay, she didn't see where Kirk went but assumed he was doing the same.

M'Ress held up one arm of Admiral Marcus who had been limping away from the room, he smiled down at her tightly clearly in a lot of pain. She reached over and hit the button for the elevator and they both waited in what she felt was a slightly awkward silence.

"Thank you for helping me Lieutenant." Marcus spoke as the doors opened and she helped him inside.

"It's no problem Sir." She observed her superior for a minute, he looked like he hadn't been too injured, just a badly cut leg which was bleeding slowly and steadily. She knew that he shouldn't be walking this much, instead he should be elevating the leg but he didn't seem to want to slow down. She pushed the button for the floor to med bay, knowing that Doctor McCoy would probably be down there somewhere, treating the influx of patients.

Once the doors opened, the Admiral seemed to be less inclined to lean on her for help, probably something to do with not wanting to hurt his Alpha status, she rolled her eyes and took his arm, pulling it over her shoulder when he started to limp again. There was no point in him hurting himself further by having too big an ego.

"Admiral." One of the doctor's gasped, handing over a just treated patient to one of the nurses and hurrying over. M'Ress left when Marcus started being treated and not seeing Doctor McCoy anywhere she felt there was no real reason for her to stick around.

"Lieutenant?" She turned before she reached the door, Marcus was sat on a bed with his leg being treated, all of the blood had been washed away.

"Yes sir?" She asked.

"Thanks for your help." He said before answering his communicator. She took this as her cue to leave and walked through the doors to med bay, managing to just avoid someone coming through the other side.

"M'Ress?" She heard as she walked back to the elevators. She turned as the doors just opened, spotting Doctor McCoy.

She bowed her head slightly in respect, feeling her tail wrap around her waist to keep it out of the way as the doors to the elevator shut. "Doctor." She greeted.

McCoy ran a hand through his hair. "I heard the attack, do you know if Kirk's alright?" His eyes showed the worry he had for his friend. M'Ress respected that.

"The Captain is fine Doctor, he has only minor injuries and scrapes that I was aware of." He let out a sigh of relief at her answer, nodding to her.

"Thanks, I'll see you on the Enterprise." He started jogging back to med bay as someone screamed in pain. "God damn it, I leave for two seconds and this happens!" M'Ress ignored this and pushed the button once more, this time finally getting inside and heading up.

It didn't take long for the doors to open and she found herself in amongst quite a few other officers, all of which were helping the injured out of the conference room in which they'd been attacked. She moved forwards, trying to find Kirk and perhaps put the attack into context. She wanted answers, like who was the attacker? And why did Kirk look like he knew him?

M'Ress couldn't find Kirk, but she was put to work but other Captains to help try find survivors in the slight rubble. Due to her Caitian capabilities she was the perfect choice as she had little trouble balancing and making her way through. She heard a groan from underneath the collapsed table and saw a hand twitching slightly. She lifted the table and was happy to discover a survivor.

"Hello Ma'am, I'm Lieutenant M'Ress and I'm here to help. Can you tell me where you are experiencing pain?" The woman groaned and clutched her side, where M'Ress could now see blood seeping through. She bit her lip, careful with her sharp canines and motioned some of the medical staff over where they swiftly put the woman on a stretcher and carried her out, working on treating her as they went.

M'Ress turned back to look for more people, other officers had made their way over the glass and other wreckage to follow her. She could see many bodies on the floor a little further ahead but was greatly saddened when everyone she checked had no pulse. After another hour of getting everyone out of the room M'Ress was dismissed.

There were a lot of higher-ups that had been injured and killed in the attack. Six out of the sixteen senior officers were killed, including Captain Pike. M'Ress had almost collapsed when she saw his body, it was the last thing she'd been expecting to see, Pike was always so strong it was strange to see him lying there so helpless and still.

She would never get that image out of her mind. All of this death had of course bought about memories of finding her mother dead in the bathtub, she felt that all of the death she'd been around in the past few days was building up to something even bigger. She wanted nothing more to do with death, but on the other hand she didn't want to stand by and do nothing when she could save lives. And that is the reason she would stay with Starfleet.

She was on her way back to her rooms when she was called. "Lieutenant." M'Ress startled and spun around to see who was addressing her.

"Commander." She bowed her head as she greeted Spock, a sign of respect that the Vulcan found illogical but knew that if he said something she would become offended as was in her species nature.

"Lieutenant. The Captain is asking for you." He said in his slightly robotic voice. No expression graced his face when he talked to her but she felt it only right that she smile at him.

"Thank you Commander." She started walking, taking it in stride when he began to walk with her. "Did that Captain tell you when this was about?" She asked, pushing open a door.

Spock walked through the same door. "Yes, it is in reference to the attack. The Captain has spoken to Admiral Marcus and has been given permission to follow the terrorist into space. He would like for you and Mr Scott to overlook the installation of new weaponry the Admiral has provided us."

She nodded along with his explanation as they got into the elevator, standing in silence as the two second ride was over and they landed in the bottom of the headquarters, they could see the reception from where they were. Walking past the receptionist in silence they passed through another door into a room that was full of life. Spock was the one to notice the Captain and he guided her over to him.

"Captain." M'Ress greeted, once again bowing her head. Kirk looked over at her greeting and motioned the two of them over, Spock took his place at the Captain's right hand side and stood by for anything that might happen.

"Lieutenant." Kirk greeted. "I'm sure Mr Spock has filled you in on the details." She nodded, following when he began walking. "Marcus has allowed us to apprehend the terrorist and to do this we need these missiles." He patted on gently as they walked up to it. M'Ress blinked at it, she really didn't know anything about these new missiles, they didn't look like anything she'd seen before. She grabbed her scanner out of her pocket and ran it over the side, nothing beeped and there were no red flags but still, she could sense something wasn't quite right with them.

Mr Scott apparently felt the same, she had only just noticed the aggravated man."I cannae let these missiles on board unless I know what's inside them, but I cannae be told what's inside them because it's-" He gestured to the big man dressed in black behind him.

"Classified." He spoke in a deep voice that offered no comfort or insight.

Scotty looked deeply annoyed. "Classified." He then went off on a rant, his Scottish accent becoming more and more pronounced the more annoyed he got. M'Ress would normally find it amusing but on a deep level she understood what he was saying, there was something going on here.

Why couldn't they see what was inside the missile. Scotty led Kirk over to an upper level where she could see them continue the argument.

M'Ress decided to join her fellow engineers and try and learn something from them but act like she knew what she was doing, the basics were all she really needed, fate had smiled on her and made her a fast learner.

She smiled at Chekov as he passed her and made her way over one of the big engines looking over her new data padd to see if anything was going wrong. Everything looked good to go, she chanced another look at the missiles that were now being moved into the ship they have been given to get to the Enterprise which had been given the once over to make sure everything was fine with it, usually she and Scotty and the rest of the Engineering team would have done it but with the mission finished they were given vacation time. She looked back at the Captain in time to see Scotty hand over his datapadd and walk away.

He didn't say goodbye to anyone, he just went. Kirk looked down at the padd before sighing and catching her eye. She nodded gently at him which made him snap out of his daze and jog down the stairs. "Lieutenant." He nodded, passing her as he boarded the ship that would take them into space. She looked at where she had last seen Scotty before following her Captain who was now being berated by Doctor McCoy. She hurried past them to find a seat, grinning a bit to herself as she remembered the times where McCoy would annoy her with his little medical tools.

"Bones, get that thing off of my face." Kirk sighed, turning to glare at the doctor and seeing M'Ress' smile. He rolled his eyes playfully causing her to smile. It was that in times like this that the simple things in life still bought amusement to her. She was glad to know that part of her hadn't disappeared.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

Once they were safely aboard the Enterprise, James Kirk walked to the bridge to find his replacement engineer. He had briefly toyed with the idea that Lieutenant M'Ress may have been able to take the reigns on this but then he recalled several instances in which the humanoid looking increasingly uncomfortable with her surroundings in the engineering rooms. Perhaps he could find someone who believed in their own abilities while at the same time building up her opinion of herself.

He found Mr Chekov about to sit down at his station and called him over.

M'Ress was about to go down to the engineering room when Kirk stopped her. "Chekov is now the head engineer, I need someone on the bridge to replace him." M'Ress nodded, not comprehending the suggestion behind the words, Kirk realised this and sighed. "I mean you."

M'Ress grinned up at him. "Of course Captain."

He walked in front of her, muttering something about, "Almost as bad as Spock." M'Ress shook her head and wanted to do a little happy dance, however the aforementioned Spock was standing quite close to her. That would be embarrassing. Instead she smiled at him and walked to the bridge.

She was very thankful for her new post because although she liked working with Scotty she didn't like the feeling of not being in complete control because there was always a niggling feeling in the back of her mind that she may be responsible for killing everyone on board if something went wrong.

She didn't like that amount of pressure. She did however enjoy following Scotty around, he was a very enjoyable companion to have around.

She may have been trained at Star Fleet Academy but when they gave her a position they didn't really think it through enough for her liking.

Taking her new seat at the helm she spun around in the chair gently, pushing herself to and fro with glee. The smile was soon wiped off her face when Mr Spock walked into the bridge with such an air of importance that she felt that she had to immediately become more serious. She was now in charge of navigations on the ship and it was something she felt that she could do with a lot more accuracy and less failures than in engineering.

Her tail flicked around her body as the nerves began to grow as she checked everything on the monitors in front of her. She took a deep breath, double checking everything again and turned to look as the Captain walked in.

"Captain on deck." She spoke softly, but loud enough for everyone to hear. Kirk nodded and smiled at her before walking over and sitting on the Captain's chair.

"Retract all moorings, Mr Sulu. Inform Doc Command that we're getting under way and transmit the usual exit information. We've been cleared for departure for just under an hour and we've spent enough time sitting here." Sulu nodded, his fingers flying over the console as he did as his Captain ordered.

M'Ress watched the pilot with fascination, her lips pulling back over her sharp teeth as she grinned quietly and subtly to herself. One day she aspired to know her position as clearly as he did, to this day she didn't know why Starfleet put her in engineering.

Kirk pressed another button on the arm of his chair, leaning his body to that side. "Chekov, how are things looking down there?"

Chekov's youthful voice came through, the tone not matching his words. "All systems normal, Keptin."

M'Ress stopped listening to the conversation and instead entered the co-ordinates that had been given to her, frowning when the implication hit her. They were going into Klingon territory, she risked a glance back at the Captain as she contemplated the repercussions of such an act.

This could start a war.

And by the tense way the Captain was sitting, she knew that he was also thinking the same things. She looked away as he wrapped up his conversation with Chekov and spoke to Sulu. "All right, let's ride."

Sulu nodded and within seconds M'Ress felt the familiar feeling of going into warp speed. She recalled the first few times she had gone to warp, she had felt dreadfully ill and got what was known as 'space sickness', which was essentially sea sickness but in space.

"Uhura, give me ship wide." Lieutenant Uhura was the communications specialist on board, M'Ress had never really spoken to the other woman but it wasn't through a lack of trying. It always seemed that Uhura never wanted to speak with her and so M'Ress let her be. It was strange how interested Uhura was in her species and yet when provided with an up close and personal look she shied away.

What M'Ress didn't know was that it was because of how intimidating she came across to people who didn't know her. It wasn't her fault. Her species were generally seen as fierce and not one to cross, no matter how gently the disposition of the individual.

Of course Lieutenant Uhura would never admit that this was the reason, she was currently in a relationship with First Officer Spock who was half-Vulcan and that would be seen as hypocrisy. And if there was one thing that Uhura would not stand to be called, that was a hypocrite.

"Channel open sir." Uhura replied, not noticing M'Ress gaze on her. One person who did notice this however, was Mr Spock. His eyes narrowed as the Caitian didn't remove her eyes for a brief period of time, enough to make him interested in what she was thinking about. He watched as her eyes went back to her console and she typed in a few co-ordinates.

He turned back to his own console as the Captain's voice rang through the ship. "Attention, crew of the Enterprise. This is the Captain speaking. As most of you know, through official channels or otherwise, Christopher Pike, the former Captain of this ship, is dead." He paused, M'Ress shot another glance at him, knowing the two men were close and that this must have affected him deeply.

She saw him take a deep breath before continuing. "The man who killed him has fled our system, and is hiding on the Klingon home world. Somewhere he believes we are unwilling to go. We're on our way there now."

M'Ress looked at her console, knowing now that she had been correct on her original theory. This time, however, she didn't feel happy about it.

She locked eyes with Kirk as he continued, he had seemingly noticed her original hesitation in entering the co-ordinates before they went into warp. "Per Admiral Marcus, it is essential that our presence goes undetected. Tensions between the Federation and the Klingon Empire have been high from the time of the first contact and have in no way subsided since. Any direct provocation could lead to an all out war. Each of us should strive to see that does not happen. We will carry out our mission in secret and as swiftly as possible, before our presence can be noted and our ship identified."

He let this bombshell sink in before adding in a slightly softer tone. "These are our orders."

He had dropped his eye contact with M'Ress in exchange for a look with his First Officer. M'Ress had a look as well and saw that Spock did not look happy. Not at all. And to see even the slightest hint of emotion from a Vulcan told her that this was extremely serious, even more so than what she knew from the data Kirk had just bestowed on the crew.

Something else was going on here.

"Let's go get this sonofabitch." Kirk smiled, it wasn't a nice smile. It was one that promised revenge.

Those words were all that was needed for the crew to begin their preparations, mainly those in engineering and the weapons dock. There was a little pushing that Chekov struggled to keep under control. Back in the bridge M'Ress sat at her station and motioned surrounding space for anything that may jeopardise or slow down the mission. Such as meteor showers or other ships, Federation or otherwise.

She was so immersed in her duties that she didn't notice Commander Spock leave his station. Usually this would have grabbed her attention because Spock did not like to be away from the bridge when the Captain was there, it would seem he didn't trust the Captain to make the right decision without him being there.

Which was true, most of the time.

M'Ress snapped out of her trance as the ship stopped suddenly, she was pushed forwards into her station, the metal slamming into her stomach as the Enterprise dropped out of Warp. Her claws had automatically came out and dug themselves into the desk as she struggled to keep herself from going over the side. That would be the most embarrassing thing to happen to her. She coughed and pushed herself away from the desk as she struggled to regain her breath. Her tail snapped to and fro behind her, the anxiousness was obvious.

Sulu she saw, wasn't nearly as affected as she was, having been able to position himself in a way to ground himself with his chair. She glared at him, still coughing.

"What the hell was that?" Kirk demanded as he righted himself in his chair. He gave the crew a concerned look to make sure that everyone was alright. M'Ress slowly retracted her claws and stood up from her chair, drawing the Captains attention towards her.

She didn't notice his glance as she sat back in her chair, in a much more comfortable position than what she had been thrown in.

Sulu scanned over his station before replying. "Engineering manually dropped us out of warp, sir. Without the usual interstitial planning."

M'Ress sighed with relief at the fact that she wasn't down in engineering, especially at the Captain's next words. "No kidding." He replied, before sighing slightly and pressing a button on his chair. "Mr Chekov, did you break my ship?"

There was a pause when all the could be heard was static, before the young Russian's voice flowed through the helm. "Sorry... sorry sir! I don't know what happened! No one does, yet." There was a hesitation on his part. "There is... was... apparently a problem with the core. The usual fail safes responded with an emergency shut down, we don't know the cause yet. But we can't manually override the automatics, at least not until we can identify the problem." There was another pause. "Impulse only until then." The tone of dread was clearly heard in his voice and the implications of his words were not fully appreciated to the members on the bridge.

M'Ress was hit fully however, with a glance towards her Captain the same worried expression she was sure was on her face was currently plastered on his own. She turned back to her station and kept a keen eye on her radar, knowing that if indeed anything approached the Enterprise, she could be certain that it would not be a friendly encounter.

The Captains conversation with Sulu only emphasised what she already knew. The other members of the bridge were now coming to their senses, the shock having worn off there was now a serious feeling of anticipation and anxiousness flowing in the air.

Kirk rose from his chair, feeling a hundred times older than he was as he approached his pilot. "Mr Sulu, remaining time to our destination?"

Sulu struggled to remain professional as he announced the words that he felt sealed their fate. "Twenty minutes sir." He exchanged glances with M'Ress as he turned to face his Captain. "But that's twenty minutes in hostile space we weren't counting on, until we can settle in behind the moonlet we've chosen in our final coordinates." M'Ress checked her station to ensure the correct moonlet had indeed been issued. "We're through the Neutral Zone and well inside the Klingon influence."

M'Ress' ears had gone right back to her skull and she felt as though she should say something regarding the current crisis but all she could do was try her best to keep her claws retracted, finding it increasingly difficult to remain calm.

She had been through Klingon space once before, only once. That was on the way to Earth with her mother, they had been ambushed and were lucky to get away with their lives. They hadn't been alone however, a group of Caitians had been at the helm and it was through deceit and trickery that she lived through that journey. And now knowing that the same situation was becoming more and more likely was not sitting well with her.

However, she had no choice.

There was no going back now.

Captain Kirk must have felt the same way because he smiled tightly. "All right, we better hop to it." He suddenly looked towards Spock's station, realising for the first time that he wasn't there. "Where's Spock?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

Spock appeared just in time, coming out of the elevator and standing at his usual place by the Captain's side. " I am here Captain" he replied as he walked.

"You're coming with me to Qo'noS. Change of plans. We're gonna go down there and get him ourselves." Kirk said confidently, as usual not aware or more likely, not bothered by the level of danger to himself. He was much more likely to put himself in danger than anyone M'Ress had ever known before. It was something she found brave and truly foolish.

"Captain, requesting permission to join the mission." M'Ress stated, standing up from her station, startling Sulu who had been about to say something. "My background in martial arts and abilities as a Caitian would be beneficial should there any issues arise with the Klingons."

Kirk nodded, having already been planning on asking her to come along. "Get changed." He ordered, she went to her quarters and stared in the mirror. Was she really asking to do this? She remembered her stepfather's words through the phone. The man who killed her mother was named John Harrison, and he was so close. She was resolved. She was going to Qo'noS.

She stepped out of her quarters to be met with Spock. "Are you ready to disembark Lieutenant?" He asked, watching her as she stepped through the door, which shut behind her. She nodded, her ears going back in slight nervousness from being around the Vulcan.

"I am." Together they walked through the hallways towards where the smaller ship was kept. "Are you alright?" She asked, feeling as though something was different about him today. Other than the obvious that is.

He didn't seem to understand her question. "I am physically fit for this endeavour, yes."

She shook her head, having forgotten the Vulcans need to be unemotional for a second and kicking herself for asking a stupid question. "Never mind." She muttered, feeling her tail wrap around her waist in insecurity. Spock watched the limb with fascination, having not been around the Caitian species for a decent amount of time it was interesting to the Vulcan, having read about them in his youth.

Having reached the ship where the Captain was standing, Spock and M'Ress approaching, neither feeling any excitement or angst about the upcoming journey, although both could see the Captain was looking forward to picking up the prisoner, perhaps for unprofessional reasons but neither commented on it.

"Ready?" Kirk asked, dressed in his casual black top and jacket and dark jeans.

They both nodded and boarded the ship. M'Ress took her seat beside Lieutenant Uhura, who nodded her head at the Caitian. M'Ress strapped herself in and checked to make sure she was in securely before taking stock of her station and checking everything was in order before they took off. It would be disastrous to come across a mistake in the middle of the mission that would jeopardise the Captain and the crew.

She was satisfied everything was alright and with a nod to the Captain along with the other four crew members, Spock and Uhura, and the two security guards, Kirk set off. M'Ress gripped her console, she always hated the feeling of taking off, it gave her stomach a rush that she didn't particularly enjoy.

When the feeling subsided she resumed her navigational duties, sending the directions to the screen in front of Kirk who was relying on them to find where Harrison was hiding. She was so focused on her task that when Spock and Uhura started squabbling with one another she didn't pay it very much attention, only noticing a slight change in atmosphere when she glanced up and saw Spock's face, looking more uncomfortable than she'd ever seen him look before.

"I assure you, the opposite is true." M'Ress didn't know what he was talking about but the pure emotion that was coming through his voice in itself startled her enough that she took her eyes off the navigation. This proved to be a mistake.

"It's the Klingon's!" Uhura pointed out the obvious when a bigger ship appeared in front of them. M'Ress cursed and checked the screen.

"Only the one ship currently, sir."

Kirk grimaced and there was a stare off for a few seconds before he put the ship into action and they were off, diving and twirling to avoid any and all collisions whether it be from the rocky walls that they had found themselves in or the enemies fire which would send them spiralling down into the ground.

M'Ress kept her eyes on her station, ignoring the overwhelming need to watch the window in front to see what was happening, she'd already let one ship through her watchful eyes, there was no way she was going to let a second one through. Her claws shot out and kept her in place as Kirk made a sharp turn.

"We need to find somewhere where we can lose them." He said. "There!" M'Ress glanced up for a second and wished she didn't. He had turned the ship towards a narrow passage, one that she was sure they were not small enough to fit into.

Spock shared these sentiments. "Captain we will not fit."

"We'll fit." Kirk said determinedly.

"We will not fit." Spock repeated, this time more forcefully.

Kirk didn't turn the ship, continuing on the path and shouted, "We'll fit!" as he tilted the entire ship sideways. It seemed to take a long time for them to come out of the other side, the ship had hit both sides of the passage lightly but hard enough for M'Ress' claws to grip on tighter than they had been. She was breathing heavily and could practically feel the adrenaline pumping around her body.

She carefully took her claws out of the console and assessed the damage, not feeling guilty at all that there were several claw marks, nothing had been broken so she wasn't bothered in the slightest.

"I told you we'd fit." Kirk spoke breathlessly, seemingly amazed they were alive.

Spock grimaced and righted himself. "I do not believe that qualifies."

Kirk grinned at his second in command. "I think we lost them."

M'Ress' attention was drawn back to her console where several red dots popped up. "No sir. We didn't." She spoke, drawing attention to her. She gulped as the red dots surrounded them. "The Klingons are behind us." Kirk maneuvered the ship and what she said turned out to be true. Hovering in front and to the sides of them were the Klingon's ships, M'Ress could feel her heart drop and knew that there was nothing else they could do now.

But she had forgotten whose company she was in, Lieutenant Uhura managed to convince the Captain to let her talk to the Klingons. Something she couldn't believe because she knew that they stood little to no chance of this working. The Klingons just a race that you could bargain with, they were violence personified and nothing, nothing worked with them.

It was kill or be killed.

Kirk must have felt the same because he searched around for some phasers, passing them around to the remaining crew as they watched in tense silence as Uhura tried to talk to the leader.

"It's not working." Kirk groaned, clearly feeling intensely anxious as he watched one of his friends out there in the field, he was tiptoeing around, looking for something to do. And finally he couldn't take it anymore, as the Klingon general placed his hands around Uhura's throat, Kirk shot out of the ship and shot the general dead.

M'Ress and Spock were the next two out of the ship, both determined to protect the Captain. M'Ress saw that Uhura had picked up the Klingon's weapon but still threw her a Starfleet weapon just in case she had difficulty maneuvering it. M'Ress shot at the nearest Klingon who was coming towards her, his weapon not even managing to aim at her before he went down.

She jumped out of the way of another, managing to climb onto one of the rocks. This was both a strength as she could see her enemies better and a weakness, as they could see her better as well.

She shot down a couple of Klingons who were going after Spock, and a few more that were going after Kirk before she saw him. Standing on the furthest flat rock was the man they were searching for.

John Harrison.

She saw red and blasted one of the Klingons who was trying to climb onto the rock she was currently standing on to try and surprise her. She kicked another in the head who tried the same. One thing about these Klingons is that they never learned from their mistakes. Stretching her legs, she pounced on a Klingon and managed to propel herself off of his body and onto another rock, she continued in this fashion until she made it to where Harrison was standing.

There was a red film over her eyes that prevented any other thought than 'Take him out'. She extended her claws, ears back and tail swishing from side to side, she was ready for him. He was busy killing a lot of Klingons, his gaze currently on both of the ships he'd managed to single-handedly shoot down. She didn't let this phase her.

She growled, an unearthly sound that made Harrison spin around with his phaser ready. When he saw the Caitian he took a moment to size her up, he clearly wasn't expecting one of her race to be apart of Starfleet. She used this confusion to her advantage and was about to shoot him with her phaser when she was hit by some debris, throwing the phaser out of her hand. 'Screw this.' She thought and pounced on him instead, taking him by complete surprise but he managed to fend off her attacks.

He threw her away from him, M'Ress growled as she landed on all fours and sprinted back towards him, throwing a punch to his face. He blocked it and managed to punch her in the stomach, she felt the air rush out of her stomach but didn't let this stop her, she kneed him right where a man doesn't like to be hit and this sent him to the ground. She crashed her fist into his back and but this didn't seem to make much of a difference, he appeared to be made of harder stuff.

So her claws came into play, however, Harrison had recovered from the blow and was fighting back, any attempt she made to hit him were thwarted and she was getting angrier and angrier as their fight continued. He managed to hit her once or twice, his hits sent her reeling but she got the feeling he wasn't trying as hard as she was. Her anger was getting the better of her.

He backhanded her across the face which sent her to the ground. She lay there stunned as he picked her up and threw her over the side of the rock they were standing on, she hit the floor with a loud thump. Harrison didn't pay her any mind as he shot the remaining Klingons, something the Starfleet crew were struggling to do. Once they were all eliminated her picked M'Ress up by the scruff of her neck and dragged her behind him.

They came to a stop in front of Captain Kirk who was on the floor, staring at Harrison with such hate but knew the Klingons he'd been fighting would have harmed him a lot more if Harrison didn't step in. A fact he loathed to admit.

"I order you to put down your weapon." Spock spoke, eyes and weapon trained on Harrison who was pointing his own at Kirk.

"How many torpedoes?" He asked, M'Ress was still a bit stunned from the blow she'd taken so didn't understand what he was talking about, she could feel her cheekbone had shattered.

"Put down your weapon." Spock repeated in a level voice.

Harrison lost his patience with him and threw M'Ress at him to make him drop his weapon as he hastened to catch her. When he had done and refocused his weapon, Harrison simply shot it out of his hand.

"In your message, the one you used to threaten me with, how many torpedoes?" He asked through gritted teeth, his weapon still trained on the Captain.

"Six dozen." Kirk replied, his voice a lot stronger than how his body appeared at that moment.

Harrison immediately dropped his weapon and his deep voice carried in the wind as he said, "I surrender."


End file.
